


until it isn't

by kaci3PO



Category: The Following
Genre: M/M, Pre-Series, kink_following
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2013-03-08
Updated: 2013-03-08
Packaged: 2017-12-04 16:53:54
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,685
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/712966
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kaci3PO/pseuds/kaci3PO
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>They don't share a bed at first.</p><p>
  <em>It's only weird until it isn't.</em>
</p><p>Pre-series, "townhouse of lies".</p>
            </blockquote>





	until it isn't

**Author's Note:**

> Written for [this](http://kink-following.livejournal.com/754.html?thread=6386#t6386) prompt at [kink_following](http://kink-following.livejournal.com/754.html):
>
>> Based on Paul's "which one's our room?" remark in #1.02, I'm guessing Jacob and Paul shared a room while living together. So I'd love some classic forced-to-share-a-bed sexual tension (accidental boners, waking up spooning, etc.), set during the time they lived next door to Sarah.
>> 
>> I'm imagining the two of them, only-half-awake, jerking each other off, but never talking about it. Then maybe Paul tries to see how far he can push Jacob and begins doing Other Stuff.

They don't share a bed at first. It's a one-bedroom townhouse for obvious reasons, but the couch is alright, so they say they'll take turns. Paul ends up being the one to sleep on the couch most nights, though, because Jacob has to get up earlier for school. But the couch is fine, and it would be weird to share a bed anyway, so Paul sleeps on the couch.

Paul sleeps on the couch and it's okay, even though he's too tall for it and he starts to get a crick in his neck after too many nights in a row. Jacob leaves a cup of coffee for him on the table every morning and it's a completely out-of-place piece of comfort in an otherwise uncomfortable situation. But it's alright because they're not here to get comfortable, they're here to do a job.

Sleeping on the couch is alright until it isn't anymore, and Paul is trying to figure out how to fit another bed somewhere in the house when Jacob finally clears his throat one evening and says, "I'm going to bed. You should — you should come with me."

Paul raises an eyebrow. "Are you sure?"

"This is stupid," Jacob says, gesturing to the couch. "It's a big bed."

"Okay," Paul says, so they start sharing the bed.

***

They share a bed and it's not weird, not really. It's not weird when sometimes Jacob's hand will stray across the middle, his fingertips brushing against Paul's stomach or the curve of Paul's lower back. It's not weird because it's just his body seeking the warmth of Paul's and Paul doesn't mind because it's hardly the most they've ever touched each other. Paul's had his hands on nearly every inch of Jacob's body at some point or other since they moved in, always making sure they put on their little show for Sarah. It's odd how the touching in bed, with no audience at all, feels less weird than when they do it as part of their show.

But whatever line they had drawn down the middle of the sheets starts blurring as their bodies seek each other in the night. It's not unusual for Paul to wake up with an arm looped around Jacob's waist or Jacob pressed along his back or once, with Jacob's head resting on his chest. They're supposed to be a couple, and that's what couples do, so he doesn't mention it and neither does Jacob. It's better that way.

There's nothing sexual about it, anyway, just two bodies finding platonic comfort in the dark.

***

Sharing a bed isn't weird until it finally is, when Paul wakes up with Jacob hard against him, flush against Paul's back and rocking his hips in his sleep. Paul briefly wonders what Jacob is dreaming about before he realizes that he should probably be more concerned about stopping it.

He rocks back.

He feels the moment Jacob wakes up, feels Jacob still against him for one panicked moment before he picks up the rhythm again, Paul's hand pressing against his own cock to create friction and Jacob's dick hard against the curve of his ass. He bites his lip until it bleeds, keeping the noises choked up inside so that Jacob won't know that he's getting off to this, but then Jacob lets out a soft moan and comes, rolling away before Paul even has a chance to finish. There's the soft patter of feet across the floor and then a thump as the bathroom door slams.

When Paul finally heads downstairs to finish getting ready for work, Jacob has left his cup of coffee on the counter, just like every morning. Paul doesn't know if it's habit or Jacob's way of saying that this is alright, and he doesn't ask. They're supposed to be a couple; getting off together isn't really that weird, anyway.

***

Jacob comes home very late one evening, covered in glitter and muttering something about the school carnival. Paul doesn't care, will never care, and Jacob knows that. They don't bother with pleasantries, and Paul likes that; there's no bullshit between them.

Except when there is.

Jacob heads to the shower and Paul puts the rest of the dinner he'd fixed into the refrigerator. Jacob probably told him that he'd be late tonight. Paul probably stopped listening the second Jacob mentioned "the kids."

By the time Paul finishes cleaning up the kitchen, he's tired and ready to go to bed. He can hear the shower running as he changes into his sleep pants and climbs into bed. He's well on his way to sleep when the bedroom door opens and Jacob walks in, wearing only his towel and still wet. Jacob jumps at the sight of Paul in a room he clearly expected to find empty. Paul gapes.

"Sorry," Jacob says, half-heartedly covering his chest. "I thought you'd still be downstairs."

"I was tired," Paul says, like he has to justify being in his own bedroom, and then forces himself to look away so that Jacob can dress.

When Jacob slips into the bed next to him, Paul can feel where he's still a little damp from his shower. He doesn't tend to sleep with a shirt on, so all Paul would have to do would be roll over and—

He can't stop himself. Paul's never been good at impulse control and he wants this, suddenly and now. He rolls over and rests one hand on Jacob's bicep, just enough to get his attention.

"You look like you've had a hard day," he says.

"Yeah," Jacob says cautiously. "I have. The kids are —"

"You've had a hard day," Paul repeats. "And I've been thinking about how our bedroom is up against Sarah's."

"What?" Jacob asks, lowering his voice. "Shhh."

Paul shakes his head. "We're supposed to be a couple," he says. "Shouldn't she have heard us by now?"

"Heard us—" Jacob starts. "Oh."

Paul slides his hand down Jacob's bare chest, resting his fingertips just above the waistband of his boxers. "It's for Joe," he says, and waits. After a moment, Jacob nods almost imperceptibly and looks away, closing his eyes just as Paul finally gets his fingers around Jacob's cock.

Jacob bites his lip when Paul starts stroking. Paul wants to lick it, to kiss and taste, but there's a line and this is already pushing it.

"Stop trying to be quiet," he says. "The point is for her to hear us."

"Us," Jacob says quietly, and then presses the palm of his hand against Paul's dick. He doesn't touch Paul directly, not like Paul is touching him, but it's a start and it feels good, so Paul keeps his pace and makes some loud noises of his own.

They both fall asleep when it's over, not even bothering to clean up the mess they've made. Jacob has already left for work when Paul wakes up the next morning, but there's a pile of clean sheets at the foot of the bed. Paul realizes as he's changing them that the old sheets smell like the two of them and sex, and wonders if that's why Jacob seemed to want Paul to be the one to change them.

He's probably just being paranoid. His psychologist used to say that before Paul slit his throat.

***

They come home half-drunk after spending the evening with Sarah, and Paul can't seem to stop touching Jacob. Granted, Jacob can't seem to stop touching him, either, but they're not in front of Sarah anymore. Show's over, curtain's down.

"You're so touchy-feely when you're drunk," Jacob says, and it's ridiculous because he's the one touching Paul, hands on his sides and chests solid against each other.

Paul kisses him because he's there, because he can, because he lost count of how many times he kissed Jacob in front of Sarah tonight while playing the part of Drunken Horny Boyfriend, because sometimes he just wants to kiss Jacob for the two of them instead of for her.

But they don't do this, don't even look at each other on the very rare occasion that their hands find their way into each other's pants. Jacob's looking at him now, staring and waiting, thinking way too much about something that's all raw impulse for Paul. Then he surges forward, hands on the side of Paul's face, pulling him in for another kiss.

There's half a second where Paul doesn't know what to do, and then his brain shuts off and his body takes over, pushing Jacob back against the couch as he takes control. Jacob doesn't fight him, actually seems to be used to letting someone else lead, and Paul wants to ask about Emma but thinks this is probably the worst possible time. He files it away instead and slips his fingers under the hem of Jacob's shirt.

"Upstairs?" he asks, and he sends an unspoken _thank you_ to Joe when Jacob says, "Yes."

There's no looking away this time, no pretending that this isn't happening and they both aren't fully participating. Neither of them know what to do but it's good when they finally stumble their way into it, skin slippery and breathing coming out hard against each other.

They don't talk about it for days, but it's not weird because Sarah teases them about the noises she heard through her bedroom wall, so Jacob tells himself that it's all for Joe and Paul tells himself that Jacob just needs time.

***

The next time is the time that sticks, sober and awake after Jacob woke up hard and Paul couldn't take the wait. His blowjob technique is terrible but Jacob threads his fingers through Paul's hair, gasping and rocking up against his mouth, and it doesn't take much coaxing after to get Jacob to return the favor. He's just as awful at it as Paul was, but Paul thinks they can both get better.

Practice makes perfect and they've still got years in this house to learn. They still don't talk about it, but not because it's weird.

They don't talk about it because finally, it really isn't.


End file.
